Barbara Palvin’s postpartum Victoria’s Secret return sparks Cole Sprouse twin mix-up: ‘People still don’t know…’

Every October, Cole Sprouse gets an unwanted notification flood, and this year he decided to say something about it.

The Riverdale actor poked fun at the annual mix-up in an Instagram Story after his sister-in-law, Barbara Palvin, walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway. Palvin is married to Cole’s identical twin, Dylan Sprouse.

“It’s that time of the year again where I get tagged in Victoria Secret content ’cause people still don’t know who married Barbara,” Cole quipped.

A milestone runway return

This year, the tags came after a big moment. Palvin, 33, appeared at the October 18 show at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, nearly six weeks after welcoming her first child with Dylan. It was the first time the show had been held in Los Angeles since 2007.

She walked in a sheer pink mini dress with a flowing handkerchief hem, blowing kisses to performer Megan Moroney while Dylan stood up from his front-row seat to film and cheer her on. She also made a second appearance in a sequined white corset with a dramatic sheer train and giant angel wings.

The couple’s daughter, Sylvie, was born on Labor Day. They shared the news in a joint Instagram post on September 28, holding their newborn up to the TV in matching Los Angeles Dodgers jerseys.

Palvin spoke candidly about coming back so soon. She told Good Morning America she was grateful for the help she had received, adding, “I’m still healing.” She also credited her parents, who flew in to help, and friends who had been dropping food at her door.

The real husband, front and center

If fans were confused, Dylan wasn’t. He has made a habit of being Palvin’s loudest supporter at the show. At the 2024 event, he held up cardboard cutouts of their French bulldog, Piggy Cow, and their cat, Klaus Von Sprouse. In 2025, he revealed that Palvin had broken her foot four weeks before walking the runway. She had also undergone surgery for endometriosis that summer.

Twins, through and through

The mix-up is an easy one to make. Dylan was born 15 minutes before Cole, and the pair started acting as babies, sharing a single role on Grace Under Fire. They later became household names on Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, with Dylan playing Zack and Cole playing Cody.

Cole has also been closely involved in his brother’s relationship. He conducted the couple’s V Magazine interview in which they confirmed their engagement. He then served as Dylan’s best man when the pair married in Hungary in July 2023.

Twins also run in the family. On the October 20 episode of the Wildmen podcast, Dylan said his family has seven sets of twins across four generations.

So for anyone still tagging the wrong Sprouse: Cole is the one rolling his eyes. Dylan is the one in the front row.